Examining the Effect of Solve Elec Simulation on Student’s Understanding of Electric Current in High School Physics in Lilongwe, Malawi

*Kondwani Chafulumira Chumachiyenda Mwale – African Centre of Excellence in Innovative Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science, University of Rwanda-College of Education
Bernard Bahati – Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement, University of Rwanda-College of Education.
*Corresponding Author: mwale477@gmail.com

Abstract: Physics is often regarded as a daunting subject for both teachers and pupils. This is because some topics are abstract, loaded with symbolic representations, lack concrete examples, and require a high level of mathematical manipulations and visualization. Quasi-experimental study involving 181 students and 6 teachers was conducted to determine the effect of Solve Elec simulation on students understanding of electric current. Two research questions guided this study (i) what teaching resources do teachers use when teaching electric current in the secondary schools of Lilongwe, Malawi? (ii) How different is the academic performance in Electric current between the students’ who are exposed to the use of Solve Elec and those taught using chalk-talk method (traditional method)? The goal of this study was to potentially gain more awareness to the use of Solve Elec on learning electric current and its impact on students’ academic performance. Pre-test and Post-test results on electric current were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS v23). The independent samples t-test results showed that students who were exposed to the use of Solve Elec instruction performed significantly higher than those who were taught through the use of traditional “talk-andchalk” instruction. These findings recommends the use of Solve Elec as a supplementary instructional resource in the teaching/learning of electric current in high school physics classrooms.